Heavenly-Not
by LanaaLuthor
Summary: Chloe is a ghost (is she really?) haunting Lex. Loosely based on the movie and the book Just Like Heaven.
1. Chapter 1

**Description: **Chloe is a ghost (is she really?) haunting Lex. Loosely based on the movie and the book _Just Like Heaven. _

The pic is a banner made for this story by **Chleansmile**

**you can see it whole in here: **

**chleansmile.**

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**livejournal**

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**.**** ?view=366523#t366523**

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**Little spoiler: **for those who are worried this will have a tragic ending because Chloe is a ghost… no worries:D It will be happy:)

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**AN **I don't know if anyone's interested, but I also started a Hunger Games story about Haymitch & Katniss.

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**Part 1**

Lex Luthor finally came home. If he could call the mansion his home, because somehow his definition of this word was different. To most people home was a place they were with their family or loved ones, the place they were the happiest and Lex wasn't sure he had ever experienced that. The mansion was a place where he slept, that was all. He even usually ate in his office or during some important business lunches or dinners.

He sighed deeply and stretched himself out a little. It had been a really hard day for him in the office. His father, as always, had been giving him a very hard time, mocking him and trying to prove him that Lex couldn't do anything right on the contrary to Luthor senior. Then there also was the other thing on his mind, his special project and those he was about to start. His mother wouldn't be very proud of him, he knew it deep down in his heart, but that didn't stop him. His mother was dead and he needed to do anything to survive. What else could he put his mind to when not this? He didn't have anything or anyone in his life. Well, there was Amanda, his supposed girlfriend, but they just showed up together at business banquets from time to time, that was all.

Suddenly, he heard some strange noise like rustling in the study.

He frowned and looked behind. There was nothing to see but the empty room. Too empty, he thought but he figured it would never be alive. There would never be a real family in it.

Lex shook his head and took off his jacket and his tie, then undid one button on his shirt right on his neck and could finally feel no restrictions. He could finally relax.

All his evenings, all his nights were the same. He had used to invite girls over but he rarely bothered those times. They didn't bring him any satisfaction, physical, yes, but not for long. The emptiness inside him was always there and he learnt how to live with it. Nothing helped, casual sex, girls, parties, those times were long behind him. Now he was just drinking alone and watching the fire…

…which he forgot to ignite.

He heaved himself from the couch and walked over to the fireplace when he definitely felt that somebody was watching him.

Years of constant attacks on his life taught him well, so he just casually walked over to his desk like he decided he didn't want a fire after all. He grabbed a gun from the drawer and turned around.

"Whose there?!" he asked, trying to penetrate the room with his eyes. Maybe he should have ignite that fire first, he thought, it would have been easier to see.

"Put the gun down, Lex. It won't help you," he suddenly heard a familiar female voice. He just didn't know whom it belonged to. It was there, on the back of his mind, but he couldn't remember…

He tried harder to see something and finally, there she was, standing in the door.

He knew her, but from where… then it hit him. He must have been very tired if he didn't recognize the woman right away. It was Chloe Sullivan. He had known her briefly a few years back when she had been living in Smallville and been the editor of surprisingly good high school paper called the Torch. Its quality had deteriorated rapidly when she had graduated. She had moved to Metropolis, probably gone to college and it wouldn't surprise Lex if she chose the journalist major.

"Chloe?" he asked.

"You can see me?!" she suddenly exclaimed, looking so happy and elated than he could just stand there, completely dumbfounded, with a gun in his hand. He could at least lower it as he knew she was no danger to him. Unless she was still so stubborn and decided to trap him here in his own house until he would give her an interview.

"Chloe Sullivan, what the hell are you doing in my mansion and what are you talking about?" he asked, the gun finally disappearing back in his desk. "I could have shot you!"

"No, you couldn't have," she denied, making a few steps toward him.

"Oh, is that so? I assure you that I…"

"No, you don't understand…" she started.

"Chloe," Lex sighed heavily, "let's just get to the chase, shall we? You want an interview, but I will not give it to you. You can see yourself out."

"Lex…" she sighed heavily. "I wish I knew what I'm doing here."

He shot her a confused look.

"Just look!" she said and started running right toward him.

"Chloe, what…" He was ready to jump away as she clearly wanted to knock him off his feet, but… he felt completely nothing and she wasn't there anymore. "Chloe!?"

"Behind you," he heard.

"How did you do that?" he asked and turned around, bewildered.

"I'm a ghost," she just said like she was telling him she decided to watch TV.

For a moment there he was just watching her face, but then… he burst out laughing.

"Good one!" he appreciated the supposed joke. "And now I should take pity on you and tell you everything you need to know and then read about it in the paper somewhere?"

"Lex, I am serious!" she huffed, clearly exasperated. "Look!" She reached her hand and stuck it into his stomach.

He listened and looked down, feeling nauseous as now her hand was gone.

He made a step back and leaned against the desk, closing his eyes.

"It's a bad dream or I'm drunk," he said to himself.

"I hate to break it to you, but no, you're not. You didn't fall asleep nor did you touch a drink tonight."

"But this… this isn't possible!" he snapped at her and opened his eyes to meet hers. She was standing right in front of him. "Ghosts don't exist!"

"We're in Smallville, Lex."

"Have you come in contact with any meter rocks recently?" he asked.

"No, I haven't been here in years… only…" she frowned.

"Only what?"

"Only I don't remember anything besides Smallville," she confessed.

"Chloe, if you expect me to believe that you are a ghost now, what indicated that you died and then you add that you have no recollection of the last few years…" he started.

"I know how it sounds! Do you think I enjoy it?!" she suddenly burst out crying. "I am a ghost, Lex! I can't touch anything! I can't feel anything! I am dead! I don't even know how I died and why I'm still here! And then I appear here and you are the only person who can see me, so please, please, help me!"

"Chloe…"

"Lex, help me."

"I'm clearly going insane, but well… alright, let's assume you're a ghost…"

"I am!" she interrupted him.

"You must have been coming back from a party, drunk and you had an accident," he concluded, very proud of himself.

"Are parties all you can think of?" she asked, clearly mad at him.

"Well, you're wearing an evening dress, so I just assumed…"

Chloe looked down at herself.

"You're right." She had a black evening dress on her. "I don't know how I got into that one, but I am not the drinking type!"

"Chloe, people change, so maybe through all those years you started."

"I don't think so."

"There is one question left, you know," he noticed. "Why me? Why did you come haunting me?"

"I'm not haunting you!" she burst at him again. "You're the one person that can see me!"

"So you _are _haunting me. Why me?"

That actually was the perfect question and Chloe didn't know how to answer it.

"You haven't seen me for years. Not since my father's trial. We were never really friends. Why me, then?" he repeated.

"I don't know. Maybe because I had a crush on you back in high school?" she suggested.

"Are you serious?" He seemed to be surprised. "Me? I thought you were in love with Clark and it was forever," Lex was mocking her now.

"Yeah, laugh all you want, Lex. Yes, I was so stupid to believe in something like that, but I changed, ok? I got over Clark when I realized there would never be anything between us and… well, then I went to you to testify against your father and… I liked you that summer."

"I never knew."

"I know," she said, what sounded silly.

"Chloe, I'm sorry if I treated you badly back then."

"I understood it all, Lex. I wasn't a little girl anymore. All thanks to your father and his blackmail. I knew you weren't interested in me and that even if you were, you would never do anything because I was still in high school. I got that. And…" she frowned again as she was trying to think hard. "God… why there is so much missing pieces in my head?!" she growled. "I know I got over you too, after I moved out, but then… nothing. And I know I had an accident. I was rushing… somewhere…"

"It it helps I always thought you were attractive," Lex suddenly said, feeling sorry for her. Maybe he was, indeed, losing his mind, but maybe Chloe was really there, talking to him. She was right. It was Smallville after all. "I was always wondering why the whole town was chasing Lana Lang when they had you, brilliant, too smart for your age, pesky. You were wonderful, Chloe. I liked you, I really did. I never tried to think of you in any other way than a friend though, because you said it yourself, better not to go there."

"Thank you, Lex, for you honestly, but I don't think I could beat Lana."

"Well, what can I say? Boys are blind. Men can see." He managed to send her a smile. "Now when we settled that one, could you please go to the light or something?"

"Are you serious?!" she started yelling at him again. "Do you honestly think I came back to haunt you because I was mad that you didn't acknowledge me few years ago?! Don't you think I would have better matters to figure out before moving on?! Pompous, narcissistic bastard!"

"Hey, calm down! I'm just trying to help!"

"Well, you're not!" she huffed.

"Then what is the other thing that keeps you here?" he asked, his head aching now. "Just think, Chloe. You don't remember it."

"Maybe it's not about moving on… I just… I don't know what to do!" she sat on Lex's sofa and his her face in her hands.

He just now took a good look at her and he had to admit she looked beautiful. She lost some weight and now had the perfect body. The dress fitted perfectly. She kept her hair short as he remembered, they were just to her shoulders now and curly. He liked that. Her face matured and she became more a woman than a girl he had known once.

"Chloe…" he said in a soft voice and sat beside her, tried to touch her but obviously that didn't work out. He could just talk to her. "I will see what I can do, alright? I will look for your files and we will find out what happened and why you are here."

"You'd do that for me?" she asked, looking at him with her teary eyes.

How a ghost could cry was beyond his reasoning.

"Yes, I will. It's either this or being pestered by you to the rest of my life. I think I like my peace," he joked and she laughed.

"Thanks, Lex. Maybe I came here because I knew you could help me."

"Maybe." But he doubted that very much. He thought he was losing his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

Lex thought he must have been really losing his mind when he was actually looking for information on Chloe Sullivan.

It must have been a hallucination, nothing more. Ghost didn't exist, even in Smallville, he was sure of it.

So why the heck he was now doing something for that particular ghost? She had been crying. Yes, she had and he couldn't deal with crying hallucinations. It was ever worse than an actual woman bursting into tears in his presence. He had enough of his problems, so he decided it would be best if he just found something about Chloe. Maybe seeing her was his subconscious telling him that he should check if she was alright? It was true that he had stopped talking to her shortly after his father's trial, but it had been for the best. He had suspected she might have grown attached to him and he hadn't wanted any teenager with a broken heart on his conscience. He had never indicated that he had liked her more than he should, so what he had done shouldn't have upset her. Period.

Maybe he was just feeling bad about not checking up on her sooner. Maybe he shouldn't have stopped watching her. He could have his PI checking up on her from time to time, but he had chosen not to. Why? Because he hadn't wanted to care about anyone? Because he had thought caring would make him weak? Or because he had been ashamed that he had used her and damped afterwards? That he had been nothing better than his father.

But he didn't kill his father like Lionel did to Lahlan, so that was a good thing, wasn't it?

Now Lex was staring at his computer screen and really wanted to scratch his head.

It was impossible.

He picked the receiver and made a few calls.

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"I can't believe I'm doing this…" he murmured under his breath when he entered his study in the evening. "Chloe?" he asked, feeling really stupid like he was talking to an empty room. "Chloe, are you here?"

He was about to give up, treat the whole event like a dream. Yes, maybe he had fallen asleep and then woken up confused that it had really happened to him.

He walked over to his home bar and picked a bottle of scotch.

"What is it with you and drinking? Seriously, you should stop," he heard her voice and almost dropped the priceless bottle.

"The hell, Chloe!" he raised his voice, angrily. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"But that's the only fun I have," she complained. "So, what d'ya got for me?"

He turned to her and found her sitting on his pool table. He frowned, but did not say anything.

"So?" she nudged him.

"Chloe…" he started slowly, "you're not gonna like it."

"Tell me anyway. How did I die?"

"That's the thing… I lost the trace around your high school graduation."

"I don't understand," she admitted.

"It's like Chloe Sullivan doesn't exist beyond Smallville. It's like you stopped existing."

"Well, I'm dead, aren't I?" she asked sarcastically. "So cut to the chase and tell me how I died."

"That's the thing… you didn't."

"Excuse me?" she raised her eyebrows, pretty confused by now. "What do you mean?"

"There is no record of you after high school. There's just… nothing. No death certificate, no file about a missing person."

"I don't… I don't understand. How could that happen?" she asked, bewildered.

"I have no idea. Chloe, it's up to you. _You _need to remember."

"But I can't!" she screamed in frustration.

"Stop yelling at me! I'm trying to help you!" he reciprocated.

"Ehm… sir?" he suddenly heard his servant calling him from the door.

"Fuck," Lex cursed under his breath. "Yes?" He turned to the man.

"Are you… talking to yourself, sir?"

"No, I have a headphone in my ear. What is it?" Lex was afraid his servant wouldn't buy it, but he didn't see one of his ears, so it was plausible.

"Amanda for you, sir."

"Damn it, I forgot she was coming." Lex rubbed his forehead.

"I sent her upstairs to one of the guest rooms. I told her it can be a while."

"Thank you. I will be there soon."

"I think she decided to take a shower, sir, as she informed me," the servant said, feeling pretty awkward.

Lex closed his eyes in exasperation. His supposed girlfriend had no boundaries.

"Thank you, that will be all."

The door closed

"Chloe?" Lex turned around. "Chloe?"

But Chloe was gone.

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Ten minutes later Lex was climbing up the stairs, wondering if he was even in the mood to finally take his relationship further. If he was really being haunted then no, he wasn't. But if he wasn't being haunted then it meant he was losing his mind. Both explanations were equally bad.

When he was on the first floor he suddenly heard Amanda's scream.

He ran to the guest room she was placed in and then to the bathroom.

He saw her standing there, wrapped just in a towel. Her face was pale and she was staring at the mirror.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Your house is haunted, that's what happened!" she yelled at him. "Look!"

He followed her sight and noticed that somebody drew on a steamed mirror a word SKANK.

He almost burst out laughing, but was stopped by the look on Amanda's face. Yep, he wouldn't get far with her tonight, but he didn't even want to. She seemed so… shallow.

"Amanda, calm down. I am sure it's…"

"There's no explanation!" she kept on yelling. "I could have sworn somebody was staring at me and it was cold and I heard that weird noise… you have ghosts in this castle, Lex! I am sorry, I thought we could work our relationship out to something equally satisfying, but ghosts?! Really?! I knew I shouldn't have crossed the threshold of this stupid castle!"

"Stupid?" Lex raised his eyebrows. "Amanda… I…"

"Don't bother. Find yourself another girlfriend or… I have a better idea! Why don't you just marry the ghost!" She walked right pass him and slammed the bathroom door.

Lex stood there for a while, completely dumfounded.

Then he heard another door closing and he was sure Amanda left for good.

It was then when he noticed Chloe standing in the corner of the bathroom, laughing deliciously.

"Chloe, please tell me you didn't…"

"Did you see her face?!" She kept on laughing. "Oh, and by the way, her boobs are fake."

Lex could just stare at her.

"Don't look at me like you've see a ghost, because you actually _are!_ What? I knew you didn't believe me! I knew you would think you had hallucinations, so I needed to do something to prove to you that I am, indeed, very real!"

"Yes, I can see that, but did you have to scare off my girlfriend?" Lex asked.

"Oh, please, you didn't care about that gold digger anyway and you know it! I wouldn't consciously destroy a relationship that was actually real. I am not that cruel."

"To me it sounds like you were jealous," Lex told her.

"I am not! … You… You are!" Chloe sputtered and this time Lex was the one to burst out laughing.

"Chloe, get over yourself."

"You do that!"

" I am not talking to you anymore!" He turned around, wanting to leave.

"Well, that's unfortunate because you are the only person _I can talk to_!"

He just sighed heavily and left.

It looked like his life wouldn't be much peaceful from now on. Not that it had been before, but at least he could come back home from work and relax. Now all that was waiting for him was an infuriating ghost.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

Lex decided that the best way to handle Chloe situation would be not to handle it at all, therefore he didn't come home a few days in a row. He started working late and sleeping in his office or in his apartment in Metropolis. He rarely used it because he hated the reporters that kept invading his privacy on his way there.

It ended when he, again, slept in his office and was woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night.

He picked up and mumbled, "Luthor."

But there was no one on the other side. Just some strange, unidentified noise.

"What the hell?!" Lex got angry and hang up. He had only one explanation for it, but he would not budge.

When the situation repeated he cursed and decided to come home for the weekend.

"Fine! You've got what you wanted!" he roared while entering the empty mansion. "I am here! What the hell do you want from me, Chloe?!"

"Took you long enough." She was sitting on the porch of the stairs and strangely, she wasn't sliding down. She was a ghost after all, she could sit on air if she liked.

"Chloe, I swear, I don't know how to help you!"

"Because you're not even trying! You're running away! It's not like you, Lex. Maybe I should have called your father."

"Don't you dare!... How did you even manage to call me?"

"I tried for so long that it finally worked, but still… did you hear me yelling at you?"

"No, and something tells me that it was a good thing I didn't."

"Argh! You're infuriating, Lex Luthor! Why out of all the people I have to haunt you?!"

"Vice versa! I don't know how a man could ever stand you!" Lex answered her back and went to the study to start a fire in his fireplace. It was cold there without any staff to turn on the heating system.

Chloe just rolled her eyes and followed him.

"Maybe I am haunting you because you deserve it!"

"What have I done?"

"Do I really need to enumerate it all?

He just sighed.

"It it was up to me I would've stayed out of your hair, but…" Suddenly, she burst into laugh, "Oh, right! Maybe that's the problem! You don't have any!"

"Is that supposed to insult me? Go on, mock me all you want, I've got immuned to it."

He started the fire and discovered that Chloe hadn't spoken anything for a few minutes. He turned around, hoping that she'd disappeared when he saw her sitting on his desk with a really sad face.

"Chloe?" he asked. "What is it this time?"

"I'm sorry, Lex."

He was completely taken aback.

"Sorry for what?" He started wondering if female ghosts were worse than female on period when she answered.

"I'm sorry for mocking your baldness. I just… I just imagined what you must've been through when you were a kid."

"It made me stronger." Lex just shrugged.

"No, it hurt you. It left a permanent damage and I am sorry, Lex."

"So now you're a shrink?"

"What are you going to do with this predicament?" she asked, getting off his desk and standing right in front of him.

"I don't know. Are you absolutely sure there's nothing keeping you here?"

"I don't know, Lex. I don't remember."

He just sighed.

"Can you at least promise that you will stop driving me mad?"

"Can you promise you can keep me company sometimes?"

"Company?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Lex, I am all alone and you're the only one that can see me. My options are pretty limited here. I'm sure if you were me, you would like to talk to someone too."

"Alright," he just said.

"Really?!" She got excited.

"But don't let it get to your head."

She rolled her eyes again.

"Maybe we can help each other?" she suggested.

"Oh, god help me," Lex just sighed.

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"How much time a person can spend in a bathroom?" Chloe asked when Lex entered his study the next day.

She was waiting impatiently on his sofa.

"Wait…" Lex stopped abruptly and thought hard on something. "How did you… You were in my bathroom?!"

"What's your problem? Oh, you're worried that I've taken a peak?" She giggled. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, you know. Besides, you've been there for way too long, so I needed to check up if you didn't slip and kill yourself. Can you imagine two angry ghosts haunting this mansion?"

"CHLOE!" He knew they promised not to snap at each other, but this… this was beyond his comprehension. "If the situation was reversed…"

"You would do exactly the same and what is the fuss all about? You've been like with hundreds of women. Being naked in front of someone must be completely normal to you."

"Let's get some rules straight first…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

Two weeks had passed by and Lex, somehow, managed to survive with Chloe under one roof. Her being a ghost didn't make things easier, but once some rules had been set, it was bearable to share a mansion with her.

Then she showed her true colors again. It was when Lex was on the phone, talking about his secret project that was somehow compromised. He still had no idea how someone could get through his security system undetected and destroy his work.

"I don't care how you do this, you will find him!" he shouted. "Whatever the cost! Or you'll find yourself in much worse position than being without job!" He hung up and had the urge to threw his cell-phone across the room.

"Whoever broke in, they did you a favor," he heard Chloe's voice coming from his sofa by the fireplace.

"Excuse me?" he asked, not really believing she just said that.

"You heard me," she went on. "You shouldn't have been doing this in the first place. How long Lex? Answer me, how many people will you hurt, how many dubious, despicable projects? How long before you will be unredeemable? How long before you will lose everything that is human in you?"

He could just stand there, looking at her, in shock.

"Also, I think you should talk to Clark," she added like nothing happened, like she didn't just insult Lex in every way imaginable.

"Clark and I haven't been talking for years. What makes you think I would want to reach my hand to him now?"

"Nothing. I know you won't do it. It's probably because of shame." She shrugged. "Or guilt," she added. "We both know it well, Lex. We both know what happened between the two of you."

"He was never honest with me. He lied to me."

"So did you and as I see, you still do. You have to stop."

"Get out," he said in strangely calm and emotionless voice. "Just… get out."

"Lex, I'm serious. You're destroying yourself and you don't even know it…"

"GET OUT!" he roared, grabbed his glass and threw it into the fire. There were remnants of alcohol in it and it gave the impression of a small explosion.

When he turned around, Chloe was gone.

* * *

She had no idea what was happening with her while she was away.

What Lex had told her worked and she disappeared for an entire month to resurface in a strange surrounding.

Then she realized it was cemetery and for a moment she was scared she would see her own grave and she would have to go into the light or something. She didn't want that. She felt like there was still something important keeping her on this ground, in this dimension.

Only it wasn't her grave. It wasn't even her funeral.

It was Lionel's.

And Lex was the only other person present. After a few stunned minutes Chloe also recognized the figure of Clark in the distance, but he didn't seem to see her. Only Lex could.

She stayed by him and then she followed him to the mansion.

"Stop being spooky," Lex suddenly spoke when they entered the study.

"I thought…" she said, her voice faltering, "I thought you didn't see me anymore."

"Oh, I do see you, hell, I even feel you around. Why did you come back? Where were you?" He threw his coat on the sofa and sat down, hiding his face in his hands.

"I don't know," she answered him honestly. "One moment you told me to get out and the next… I have no idea where I was," she sighed heavily, sitting down next to him, "and I reappeared at the funeral. Maybe you needed me? Maybe that is why?"

He laughed bitterly and then looked at her. "Why would I need you? You're a ghost and even if you were alive, you'd still be infuriating, Chloe."

She didn't feel offended this time. She was beyond that. Besides, she could tell he was grieving even if he didn't want to admit it.

They sat for a while in silence and she finally said, "I'm sorry."

"For what? Being infuriating?"

"I'm sorry about your father," she repeated.

"He doesn't deserve it and you know it."

"Really?" she prompted. "Because to me it doesn't feel like you're ok with him being dead. Admit it, Lex, even if he was a son of a bitch, you still loved him. I understand, because he was your father."

Lex just stared into the distance, poker face on, but somehow she felt like she could tell what was going on inside him.

"It's ok," she told him, "it's ok to mourn him."

"It's not ok!" Lex suddenly raised his voice." You're right, Chloe, he was a son of a bitch and he was evil! He never…"

"…loved you like you wanted him to?" she finished after him and for the first time saw his body shaking a little. "It's ok to hate him for that too. You couldn't help loving him and you know why? Because you are nothing like him, you never were and I hope you will never be. You have a heart, Lex. Maybe I should say you _still _have it. Don't let it go. Not ever."

He sighed deeply and then he finally looked her in the eye.

"Thank you, Chloe," his voice was a little shaky and then he reached his hand to hers. He needed comfort, he needed human touch and for the first time he wasn't afraid of showing it. He didn't think it would be weakness. His father would, but he wasn't his father.

E totally forgot what she was and his hand didn't touch Chloe's, it ran through it.

To his astonishment, she sniffled and then she started crying.

"Chloe?" he asked, not really knowing what to do. How could he comfort a ghost?

"I… I just…" She closed her eyes. "I'm not alive, Lex, and… I so wish that I was. Am I dead as your father? I don't see him anywhere. I didn't see him at the funeral… why?"

"Maybe he went straight to the place he was meant to go," Lex suggested.

"I don't want to be dead… and I'm sorry… it's your time to be sad, not mine."

"It's fine," he reassured her. "Actually, I'm glad I have some company now, even if I can't touch you."

"You're not such an asshole after all, you know?"

"And you're not so bad either," he chuckled, realizing that she had just made him smile. That was big considering the events from the past few days. His father's progressive sickness, his death, his funeral… empty funeral. Everyone hated Lionel Luthor and no one had come to pay him respect. Lex wasn't even surprised as his father had never showed respect to anyone else.

"Chloe…" Lex found himself saying. "Can you… Can you stay?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he heard in answer.

He hated to be alone and she seemed to feel it.

They laid down on the opposite sides of one bed and just looked at each other.

Lex never before wanted to touch someone so badly…


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

With every passing day Lex was catching himself more and more on waiting in anticipation for Chloe, to see her, to make her smile, make her happy. Soon, it stopped being enough for him and he started to realize with horrification that he must have been falling for her. And they could never be.

Falling for a ghost was the cruelest kind of irony for him. He knew he didn't deserve anything better, but it hurt anyway.

One day he finally said to her what he had been wanting to say for a long time now, "I wish I could kiss you right now."

To his astonishment, she answered, "Me too… but Lex… you can't…" she stopped for a moment and closed her eyes. "Lex, you can't have those feelings," she told him. "You just can't. It's one thing for me to have them, but for you…"

"You do?" he asked immediately, hope igniting in him.

"Of course, but… how can there ever be something between us?" she asked the perfect question. "I'm dead and you're alive. We can't even touch each other."

"I don't care. I will dig deeper, I will find out what happened to you, what happened to your identity."

"It doesn't matter. It won't change anything. Even you can't raise the dead, Luthor," she said and earned a small smile from him, but his face came back to being sad pretty fast.

"Chloe…"

"I know. I think… I think I need to go. I don't want to keep hurting you like this."

"No!" his sudden outburst shocked her. "I will not let you leave! I don't care that I can't touch you! I want you!"

"How?!" she raised her voice. "How?!"

"It's ironic, isn't it?" he asked. "If you weren't a ghost, I would do what I always do. I would sleep with you and then abandon you in the morning, never call you again."

"I don't believe you would," she said and he shot her a surprised look. "Not with me."

"Aren't you cocky?"

But the implication of this word only made them feel worse.

"What are we going to do?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"I need to move on, Lex," she repeated. "I know it's hard for you to hear, but I need to do this. I was gone that month when you told me to get out."

"I'm so sorry for that, Chloe."

"I know you are, but this is not the point. I don't want you to have a relationship with someone only you can see but can't touch. People will think you're crazy."

"They already do."

Chloe ignored him and went on, coming closer to him, "I want you to have a life full of happiness and joy, Lex. I want you to be good and loving."

"And I don't want to do this without you."

* * *

Chloe knew she would have to leave eventually, but she stopped arguing with Lex on that. It was her decision and she knew it would be for the best.

Maybe she died, but maybe she started haunting Lex because she was meant to show him love. They would never have their happy ending and it was heartbreaking, but if she could disappear from this world with the knowledge that she fixed him, it would be enough for her. She just wanted him to be the good person he always had the potential to become. She wanted him to start a family with some nice woman who wasn't a gold digger and who could love him.

She just needed to find this woman first.

"I want to spend one perfect day with you," Chloe asked him. "I'm sick of spending all my endless time in this mansion."

"As you wish," Lex agreed. It was surprising that he so easily ditched work right now, just because she wanted him to.

They went to Metropolis park as Chloe still loved the city. Too bad she would never know if her dreams associated with it had come true.

It happened when they were passing by Metropolis General Hospital. Chloe stopped and bent in half like she was hit in the stomach.

"Chloe?" Lex frowned. "Chloe ,what is it?!" He didn't care that people were looking at him strangely. All he cared about was her.

Before, Lex had had his phone put to his ear all the time, so he had been believed to be talking to it when in fact he had been having a conversation with a ghost. Now there was no time for pretending like that, it flew away from his mind.

"Chloe?!"

* * *

She got flashes… jaded… distorted…

_She was wearing this dress for her… _God, what was it?

_ "You're so distant, Chloe!" he was yelling. _

_ "I love you…" _What was his name?

_ Then she was running out of there, getting into her car and driving toward Smallville. It had been her home once and she hadn't been there for so long… _

_ The tree… the car going off the road… the crash…_

* * *

"CHLOE!" Lex roared and was pretty sure someone would come out of the hospital soon and they would admit him into a psychiatric ward.

"Chloe…" she said, looking like she was catching her breath, what was impossible since she had none to begin with, "Lane," she finished.

"Chloe Lane? Is that you… Are you married?" Lex asked, suddenly jealous in the least wanted moment. "Chloe, talk to me!"

She was gone. It looked like she was vacuumed into the hospital building.

Lex had no choice but to go in there and ask for Chloe Lane.


	6. Chapter 6

**MercyFrost**, sorry to post _late:D I hope this satisfies you:):) One more chap to go!_

* * *

**Part 6**

_Chloe Lane, _Lex couldn't believe it, but she did exist and apparently, she was here, in Metropolis General.

"Are you a family member?" the nurse asked.

"Yes, I'm her… I'm her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" The nurse raised her eyebrows so high it looked comical.

"Well..." Lex cleared his throat. "I was her boyfriend… we were really close back when she was studying and I needed to leave the country… I just came back and I found out she is…" he stopped, pretending that he just couldn't say anything more because of his emotions.

The nurse bought it, luckily for him.

"Alright. I'm sorry, but she's been in a coma for months now. The family wants to pull the plug today."

"What?! No! They can't!" he yelled. "I'm sorry…" he added on seeing the nurse's face, "I just… it can't be true!"

Chloe might have been married, but it was a small obstacle to overcome. The most important thing was that she was still alive! In a coma, but alive! Maybe Lex could do something. Maybe LuthorCorp…

The nurse told him where to go and he ran.

When he got into the right room he stopped abruptly. He was shocked because there were people in there, one he knew all too well.

"Clark?" he asked in surprise.

"Lex? What the hell are you doing here?!" Clark got angry. "Get out!"

"No, I will not! Clark, I know we haven't talked for years, but you need to listen to me! I've been seeing and talking to Chloe for the last few months. She's alive and you can't just pull the plug and… it must've happened because of the meteor rocks!" Lex suddenly exclaimed, ignoring everyone that was looking at him in shock. Maybe that was the reason he wasn't thrown out of there yet. "Chloe must've crashed near the meteor rocks!"

"Even if, why would she come to you, Luthor?" A brown haired woman just stood up from a chair beside the bed where Chloe was lying. At the side of the small blonde, Lex's heart clenched.

"Because she loves me," he blurted out and the woman jumped to him.

"How dare you come here and tell such stories when my cousin is dying?!" She pointed the bed.

Lex saw that the other guy in the room, much smaller than Clark, was sitting by the bed, holding Chloe's hand, completely unaffected by Lex's presence.

"Show some respect!" the woman kept yelling at him.

"Lois," Clark put his hand on her shoulder. "Lois, calm down or the nurse will throw us all out of here."

"He's the one who should be thrown out!" Lois pointed her finger at Lex.

Only he didn't listen to her anymore, he was looking at Chloe. Chloe standing by her own bed, by her physical body. Chloe smiling to him.

"I love you, Lex," she said and… was sucked into her flesh.

"No! Chloe!" Lex jumped to her and shook her.

"Man, what the hell?!" The guy finally turned to him.

But Lex didn't care. He needed to bring her back. That was when he realized that the machines were already turned off. Chloe's heart was beating for a moment, but then it stopped.

"NO!" Lex roared and kissed her. He didn't know where it came from, but he just couldn't let her go. No without really touching her, at least once.

He never finished his kiss because the guy sitting by Chloe's side suddenly put his hands on Lex's jacket and tore him away from the blonde.

"How dare you?! She's my fiancée!" he roared and hit Lex in the face.

"Calm down, both of you!" Clark suddenly was standing between them. "Don't fight. This is Chloe and she's… she's…" he started, but did not finish. The word "dead" didn't want to leave his lips.

"…fine," Lois was the one to say it now and apparently, she was in shock. "She's… fine."

The three guys stirred and they all looked at Chloe lying in bed.

Her eyes were opened and she was confused.

"Lois…" she said, "Clark… Jimmy… Lex?" The last one was a question and she frowned like she didn't understand why Lex would be there. "What are you doing here?"

"Chloe, it's me!" Lex came closer to her, once again using the moment when everyone else was shocked. "Don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember you, but what are you doing here?"

"You came to me… when you were in a coma… you… we…" he started and was hit by a wave of pain as she was still confused.

"Lex, I haven't seen you for years."

He straightened up, his poker face back on and he just backed out. Left. Walked through the door and never wanted to come back.

It was worse than her being dead. At least then he knew she loved him.

Why didn't she remember him? How could she forget all the time they'd spent together? Happy? Even arguing, he didn't care. He just wanted her to know him!

He should have known better. He never deserved anything good in his life.

Chloe was somebody's fiancée and she was in love with him.

* * *

_It was her engagement party, but she didn't have any fun. On the contrary, she felt terrible like she was making a mistake. Why?_

_ Jimmy was a wonderful man and she knew he could make her happy._

_ Then why it felt like something was missing?_

_ She had moved from Smallville, changed her name to her cousin's name, because Lionel had been on to her. He had still wanted revenge. _

_ After few years it had all died down. Chloe had stayed low and no one had known what had happened to her. Her papers had been classified. She had been safe once she had promised Lionel she would stay away from the Luthors. He had been the one to bury her papers, it was like even his trial and her testimony had never happened. Like she had never existed. Like she had stopped existing after she had left Smallville._

_ "You're so distant, Chloe!" Jimmy told her on their party. _

_ "I love you, Jimmy!" was her answer. "I do and I am sorry, I'm just…" Just what? Should she tell him she had been thinking of her past so often now?_

_ "You don't act like it!" he told her and it hurt._

_ The next thing she knew was the sudden urge to go to Smallville, to visit the small village she had got her best memories from. _

_ She went to her car after she had been drinking and drove straight there._

_ There was a flesh of light coming from the passing truck and she was blinded. She landed on a tree, meteor rocks scattered around her. The last thing she saw was the Luthor mansion in the distance._

_ Then only darkness…_

* * *

Lex was sitting by his desk over the papers that his PI finally provided.

The key was to look for Chloe Lane, not Chloe Sullivan. Then the trail was actually pretty simple, reaching back to his father.

Ironically, if Lionel had still been alive, Lex would have probably never gotten his hands on those papers, but after his father's death, it was all his.

He now knew the whole story.

Only he still wasn't sure why Chloe had been driving to Smallville that day she had had an accident…


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

Lex was standing in front of the Daily Planet building. He knew Chloe was back at work, as it turned out she was already a reporter.

He was here, but he couldn't cross the threshold. He couldn't go see her. What would he even tell her? Would she believe him? Even for an open mind like hers, it just seemed too much.

"Will you just be standing there all day?" he suddenly heard her voice and turned around just to found himself face to face with her. She must have come from a coffee shop, because she was carrying a steaming cup in her hand.

"I… I was just…" Lex stammered. He, who never did such things. He always prided himself on being straight forward, on going after things he wanted and always getting them.

"I remember you back from the hospital. What were you doing there, Lex?" Chloe asked.

He still didn't know what to say. He saw her alive and healthy, standing there, right in front of him. He could just reach his hand and touch her. Only he couldn't, because she didn't remember what they had had.

"Don't you know?" he just asked with hoarse voice. "Chloe, just think hard, please."

She looked at him with an ambiguous expression on her face and bit her lower lip.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" she asked.

"What about work?"

"Perry won't fire me." She just shrugged. "I'm already his best reporter, so he can only yell… Like I could be scared of him," she added and shrugged.

Lex chuckled and then saddened immediately. Chloe could make him laugh so easily, but she could also hurt him.

"How are you?" he asked as they preceded toward the park. The same park that now carried so many memories… memories she didn't have.

"Good, I'm really good."

"How is… Jimmy, was his name?" Lex asked, but even though he pretended to be unsure, he knew it well. Jimmy Olsen, photograph for the Daily Planet.

"Oh, we… it didn't feel right," Chloe confessed, "so I broke it off. I didn't think he was for me."

"Yeah…" Lex admitted.

"What was that?" she asked, looking at him. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not and yes, you did try to just tell me that you think Jimmy wasn't right for me too! Have some heart, Lex! That is not what a person should say and you know it!"

"I was ready to have heart once," he said, "but she left and I don't see the point now."

"Well, maybe if you did have it in the first place, she wouldn't have left!" Chloe argued and he laughed. "What did I say?"

"Nothing. You just remind me…"

"Remind you what?!" She was really irritated now. They just entered the park and she stopped, turning to him and looking at him. "Tell me."

"What is the point, Chloe?" he just asked. "You wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Why don't you try me?"

He just shook his head.

"Why do I feel like something pulls me toward you?" she asked again.

"You tell me," she got in answer what irritated her even more.

Something about that agitation felt familiar though. It was torturous for her like the answer was there, at the back of her mind, but she couldn't get to it, like she was looking at it through some thick fog.

"What did Clark and Lois say after my unfortunate visit?" Lex suddenly asked.

"They think you're crazy and they pity you."

"Oh, really? They don't hate me?" Lex raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I think Clark feels guilty that he broke your friendship off instead of trying to save you."

"Save me, how noble," Lex mocked.

"Lex!" Chloe scolded him. "I will not talk to you like that!"

"Then why are you still here?" He stopped again and looked into her eyes.

They just stood like that, observing each other's faces. Chloe tried so hard to remember what was so familiar to her, so… dear…

And then he kissed her.

He couldn't control himself anymore and his body didn't listen to his brain. He just acted. His lips came crashing down on hers and she was so surprised that she started kissing him back, like it was natural for her too.

_I wish I could kiss you right now_

_ You're not so bad, you know?_

_ You have a heart, Lex._

"What the hell?!" she yelled again as she broke off the kiss and made a few steps back, away from Lex.

She shut him down, so he decided it was over. He needed to let her go. He almost turned away from her when she surprised him while saying, "_I want to spend one perfect day with you_." After having said that she frowned and put her hand to her head.

"Chloe?" Lex asked with hope raising in his heart. "Chloe, what was that?"

"I don't… I don't know…" she admitted, wincing like she was in pain. "I remember some sentences… Did I say them to you?"

"What?" he asked, urgency in his voice. "Chloe, please, remember me."

She gasped and looked into his blue gray eyes.

_Please, remember me, _he said and there was so much pain, so much yearning and affection in his voice that her heart responded. She was so in love with him, she realized, but she didn't know how it happened.

"We didn't see each other last when I was in high school, did we?" she asked.

"No," he answered, waiting patiently.

"And there's something different about you. Something… like something's changed. You're a better person."

"All thanks to you, Chloe."

"Ok, this will be a small experiment and I'm sorry for it," she said and then grabbed his face, pulling him toward her and kissed him.

He was taken aback, but would never ruin his chance. He kissed her too, trying to show her how much he loved her, savoring in the taste of her as he finally could feel her. She didn't protest when he pulled her body closer to his and then put his arms around her.

Then he heard a strange noise and suddenly, Chloe was snuggling into his chest, crying her eyes out.

"Chloe?" he asked, still not sure why she was crying. Was the kiss so bad? Or maybe too desperate?

"Lex, it's you!" she said and fisted her hands into his shirt. "It's _you_!"

"Yes, yes, honey, me!" His heart was singing and nothing mattered but her anymore. He didn't care about stupid projects of the LuthorCorp and about his dubious practices, all he cared about was Chloe and he knew he would never let down or let her go.

"I… I remember… I was driving from my own engagement party and I crashed my car…" she was saying into his shirt that was now wet from her tears. "I saw your mansion in the distance and I remembered my silly crush on you…"

"It wasn't silly," he cut in and stroked her back.

"Then I flew away from my body, to… to you! And… and you told me to get out…"

"I am so, so sorry for that."

"And I felt myself being back in my body, in the hospital. Jimmy was there, Lois and Clark. They were all there, talking to me, holding my hand, but… but I couldn't wake up. It was like I still had something to do! And then I felt the urgency, the need… you wanted me back, you _needed_ me to come back to you, so I… I did."

"And then your cousin decided to pull the plug," Lex finished, almost shaking because he realized how close he had been to losing Chloe forever.

"But I did what I was meant to do. I made you a better person, I discovered my feelings for you again and you fell for me too… and that is why I woke up."

"Oh, and I thought the kiss woke you up," he chuckled, crying. He couldn't believe he actually was.

She pulled back and saw his tears.

"Are you…" she started, but then she just wiped them out with her hand and cupped his face. "I love you, Lex Luthor. Can we, please, start over?"

"We're not starting over," he denied, "we're starting for real, because I can finally feel you."

"Ok, I'm fine with it." She smile brightly at him through her tears and he kissed her, not ever wanting to let her go again.

That was probably the first and last time he cried, but he didn't care.

Because he had her.

**The end**


End file.
